A native Chinese speaker, from Beijing for example, has a lot of advantages when learning to speak Mandarin. Photo via VisualHunt.com

“It’s better to have a well-made head than a full one” wrote Montaigne.

To better memorise the Chinese ideograms and characters, you will need to understand them. This is where a private Chinese class differs from a university course in Sinology: the private teacher is expected to ensure that his student understands a lesson properly before moving on to something else.

Is that all? Not by far!

A good teacher should:

Listen to their students

Be patient

Adapt to the student’s level and character

Use a pedagogical and understandable approach so as not to discourage the learner

Teach without judging: everything is easy when you already know how to do it!

Be considerate, pleasant and benevolent – arrogance will turn students off

Other private and public institutions for learning Chinese

Benefit from private or group lessons with a native speaker from China!

When looking for a Mandarin teacher to help you learn to speak the language of Confucius, you will find that many big cities have some sort of association or school for foreign languages.

Here are a few:

Mandarin classes London are possible with the Hutong School or Practical Mandarin

Also, the University of London has a Language Centre that teaches Chinese

Cactus offers courses in various languages, including Mandarin, in cities throughout the UK – learn Chinese in Bristol, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield

Durham University also offers Chinese language courses open to the general public

Many universities such as Manchester house a Confucius Institute that offers 10-week courses in Conversational Mandarin

An exhaustive list would take too long, but here, Google is your friend: simply type in “Chinese in + your city” and all of the institutions, public or private, teaching Mandarin near you will appear. From there, you can choose the Chinese teacher that suits you the best.